Structure of the Earth: Plasticity Lab

On May 22, Blue Science did a very messy yet interesting lab. This lab was made by cornstarch, water and the option of food coloring. Mixing about 5 teaspoons of cornstarch and 20 milliliters, and the option of the food coloring, the product was hard and had a rubbery texture. This product is in fact a liquid because its like glass. Glass looks like a solid but it actually keeps flowing. When I poked the product, my finger bounced back. Although, when I slowly put my finger in the product, my finger sank in. When the mixture was handled, it just seemed to have melt in my hands. When the mixture is rolled into a ball, it becomes as hard as silly putty. All in all, the Earth's mantle and this lab are similar because both have plasticity. That was the point of this lab.

October Sky

In the movie October Sky, there were connections to math and science, and Character Education. The connection of rockets with math and science is obvious because to make rockets and finding out how far it will go has to do with math equations as the variable X for how far the rocket would go. The coal mines was connected with math because of how far down deep the coal miners went and the pressure increases as you farther keep going down. And the coal is used to be burned so there would be heat from it. Science fair id all about science and math. Without any math, you can't do science. But with no science, you can do math. The relations for sputnik and the Russians is that Sputnik is a satellite that reflects rays and signals. For math, rays and signals are calculated by waves lengths. Using the lengths and how much materials they used proved their innocence because Homer used Calculus to figure it out on his own. He even used the path of the wind and the wind speed to lead him to the rocket. Plus the health dangers from the coal mines are very hazardous and can be vital. The amount of chemicals int the air which cause lung disease and the hazards from digging hence the cave may fall down on people, also the elevator may get stuck on the way down and all of these troubles can take up time for mining process.

Everyone in the rocket science team used cooperation. Without cooperation, the team wouldn't have made the rockets TOGETHER! Assertion is to have a positive attitude, the whole team had asserions and they finally were able to have their rockets made and tested out. Furthermore, everyone respected eachother in order to work together. In addition, the one who encouraged Homer the most was his teacher because he was the one who inspired him to make rockets. She wanted him to live his dream. Even the townspeople respected this group of scientists for their work and respected Homer even more because he was motivated in making rockets and won the Science Fair award. Dollowing the award, Homer was able to go to a really good educated place when done with school and graduation. The definition of empathy is to be understanding. For example, Mr.Hickam wasn't very understanding when Homer said that he wanted to be a rocket scientist. Also for example, Homer's friends had empathy when Homer wanted to work on rockets. Instead of not joining him at the 'nerd's' lunch table, they came to help Homer and cooperate. Next, Mr.Hickam didn't have self-control to have any empathy on Homer when he was going to go out of state to present at the Science Fair. He just burst out arguing and yelling at Homer and Homer argued back. When Mr.Hickam did have self-control, he lastly helped Homer in delivering the peices of rocket which were stolen from the Science Fair display.

Review on Soccer 105 's Genetic Disorder-Charcot Marie-Tooth Disease

The author of Soccer105 talked about the Charcot Marie- Tooth Genetic Disease. I thought that the name of this disease was pretty unusual, Charcot Marie- Tooth Disease. At first when reading the name of the disease, I thought the blog was going to be about a problem for teeth. Later on when reading, I came to know that the disease had no relation to the name, it was in fact the last name of one of the three French doctor's last name. I contemplate why the doctors didn't name the disease after what damage it does. This entry scrupulously identifies what the disease does, its symptoms, the cures that are likely to help and what age group it could happen to. All in all, Soccer105 has again written a wonderful and decent blog which classifies and focuses on the genetic disorder.

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD)

Adrenoleukodystrophy was discovered in 1993 by Haperfield and Spielier. The symptoms, of this genetic disease, are comas, impaired vision/speech/motor function, seizures, attention deficit disorders, cognitive and behavioral impairment and swallowing difficulties. There aren't many treatments to this disease but two treatments which can help are having bone marrow replaced and using Lorenzo's oil. Lorenzo's oil prevents disease from progressing and doing more damage. Lorenzo's oil is a mixture of oleic and erucic acids. For infants and children with this disease, docasahexanoic acid (DHA) could help. Adrenoleukodystrophy is a very long chain of fatty acids which accumulate of adrenal gland to convert cholesterol to steroid hormones. The adrenal gland is located above the kidneys and produces steroidal hormones, and a bone marrow which produces epinephrine and nor epinephrine. This fatal disease for young teenage boys is extremely rare, only 1 of 75,000 live male births. This disease is effective on males only, BUT, 1 in 42000 females in the U.S.A. carry the defective gene that causes ALD. Furthermore, death occurs within one to ten years of presentation of symptoms. Plus, Adrenoleukodystrophy is most commonly inherited as an X-linked condition. This means the abnormal gene is found on the X chromosome. Because women have two X chromosomes, they have a spare normal gene as well as the abnormal one, so they generally only carry Adrenoleukodystrophy. But men have only the one faulty X, so they are affected by the condition. X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy may occur in three forms, with onset of symptoms in either childhood or in adulthood. All in all, I think that Adrenoleukodystrophy pains many peers of my age; I wonder why girls aren't diagnosed with it too if they carry the disease the whole time until she gives birth to a boy?

http://arthritis-symptom.com/paralysis/Adrenoleukodystrophy.htm

What YOU eat can change the world!

Food and making food affects Earth and its heat. This means that there is bad news for some meat eaters out there so now is the time to eat more environmentally friendly! When global warming was a concern(not that it still isn't), would make animals die off and life could become very very different. Did you know that making meat makes a lot of carvon dioxide which is actually pretty bad for Earth's atmosphere? And making meat mostly comes from beef which releases more gases that make global warming worse. 'The process of making a hamburger, for example, requires a lot of energy. A cow has to be fed and raised on farmland, and cow manure is a major source of methane — an especially potent greenhouse gas. The cow has to be slaughtered. The meat has to be processed and shipped to a consumer, which takes fuel. Most of the cow won’t even be used for meat that people eat.' The way to go is to eat less cow meat, its better for the environment and for you health.

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20090225/Note2.asp

My Roller Coaster Website

http://www.tink3.webs.com/

'Chess Princess' comes for challengers at NJIT

A champion chessman raised in India plays against many challengers at the NJIT. Chitra Sridhar's dad taught her how to play chess when she was only 6 years old. She ended up in the National Championships when she was just 7 years old. In the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Chitra begins playing against others for about 3 & 1/2 hours preparing to get back into the international competitive chess circuit. In the afternoon, she had 22 different (male) challengers. She only lost three times which didn't make her angry but say "Every game is a lesson learned".

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/back_home_in_india_chitra.html

Olive Extract!!!!

Did you know that Olive extract can lower high blood pressure and cholestrols? This can work by taking this type: 1000mg of a specific olive leaf extract (EFLA®943). Researchers came to this conclusion because two identical twins were given these tretments. Hypertension aka High Blood Pressure is most common and getting the disease is simply by living in a modern way of life. Rats have been experimented on and the reduced cholestrol and Blood Pressure was a success. Two elderly twins from Switzerland and Germany who had High Pressure took capsules of the olive leaf extract for eight weeks and their reports came out good. Now other people can take this capsule! Especially my mother, she always gets a Hypertension whenever she sees me.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080827002717.htm

Former President Bush's shoe incident....(not in the USA)

Remember the time when our former president Bush was almost hit in the head by an Iraqi journalist? Well, this story just happened about two months later,all over again, in the United Kingdom at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when he was making a speech at Cambridge University. Although the shoe didn't hit Wen Jiabao, it only had the almost the same results as former pres. Bush got. Being questioned and surrounded by guards. There were witnesses of about 500 and the cameras that were focused on Wen also caught the scene when Wen dodged the shoe that landed a couple of meters from him. Of course the student who threw the shoe was taken to the police station, he wouldn't tell his name due to 'university regulations'. Wen Jiabo was in UK to strengthen economic ties on his three day visit. "China has long been criticized by the international community for its human rights record in Tibet, where many Tibetans are pushing for greater autonomy and religious freedom."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/02/china.uk.shoe.protest/index.html

When President Obama gave his speech on the day of his inauguration, crowds gathered and he got lots of applause whenever he paused in his speech which made it seem grand. What stood out to me the most was that he wants to help adults get jobs to get for the family. If adults with families don't have jobs, they won't have food, clothing and shelter because they won't have any money to provide these things. Thankfully my parents do have jobs, but I worry that if they lose their jobs, they won't be able to provide me with things I like if that happens. President Obama wants to make sure that everyone can live in a decent home with plenty of food and clothing.

On January 20th, there were many more people than there were tickets to see President Obama and hear his voice. This was the biggest inauguration ever because President Obama became the first black president. There were many more black people there to support him than I remember seeing at former President Bush's. Black people must have been really proud of him because they feel that he represents them. This is the first U.S. president who isn't white, making more opportunities for people from different backgrounds.

National News

Today on January 20, 2009 , President Barack Obama's inauguration took place in Washington at twelve o'clock. An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's rule. What my response to the inauguration would be is that Obama promised to do his best in what he can do for our country and he sounded very bold in his speech. He also stated that "the question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.", which I think means that Obama cares for all of the U.S. citezens. Like he cares if the government works out with us and helps families get a job at a fair amount of wage following the matter of affording to retire in the future. After Obama said "Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short," Obama proclaimed. "For they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.", he made us and veterans and former presidents feel honored for what they and what we did for America. In return, we must honor President Obama for what he will say he will do for us in the future. In the first part of the quote I am not sure what he means by "Their memories are too short.", who's memories? Ours? Or critics? Other nations? "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred," Obama said. But with "old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life ... and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you." What I think Obama meant here was that he wants to fight and win to get to the real source of the commotion and what started this war and he wants to finish it so nobody can get hurt, he won't be known as an uncaring president and he wants to begin having peace with other nations. This is what I think about Obama's inauguration speech today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inauguration

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/obama.speech/index.html

Protecting the future.

Air forces use the most gasoline than any other vehicle; it even uses more than the U.S. military! The military used about 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline in 2007. A plan that might save our future comes from the U.S. Air Force itself to use coal instead of gas. I would say using coal is a much more smarter idea. Coal can help us drastically because there would be less pollution and the nauseating smell of gasoline from air planes. In the future, cars would be running on batteries, power plants on wind and solar energy, and city buses on zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells and hopefully, air planes on coal. The air force is saying that they would use 50/50 blend of synthetic and regular fuel by 2016 which is in seven years(thats not too far away). According to William Anderson who is the former assisstant of the U.S. Air Force says its going to make a domestic fuel industry to dig new coal mines. Also, it will build the country's first biggest liquified coal plants(CTL). The Air Force didnt invent the CTL yet but German scientists figured out how to make coal into liquid fuel in 1920s. Even Adolf Hitler used the technique of turning materials into liquid which is called the Fischer-Tropsch process to take control over Germany in World War II. CTL can save us and we can make a brighter future!

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-01/flying-coal-fired-skies

Pack up in the future to go to Mars!!!!

Can you believe it? There was once life on Mars!!!! According to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found a mineral in the bedrock that tells that there might have been an environment on Mars. A scientist reports a specific type of carbonate rocks in some regions of Mars called "Nili Fossae" and in a couple of other regions on Mars. These carbonate minerals form only in the presence of water. Acidic conditions on Mars prevented the minerals to form, so, the "Nili Fossae" means that water could have provided a place for living things on Mars. Saw that?!!! Organisms once on Mars!!!! Don't you wonder what they look like? Scientists say there is some evidence that there were oceans on Mars but right now, scientists have only found traces of carbonate in atmospheric dust and Martian soil. NASA's rover that went to Mars in 2004 made scientists thinkthat the might have been oceans were too acidic to contain living organsisms. Scientists also think the corbonate minerals formed when water came in contact with another mineral. So get ready to launch into outer space to a different planet that you did'nt know for containing life.

http://science.discovery.com/stories/week/mars-area.html

Class Response: Owl Pellets

Owl pellets are undigested parts of an owl that they regurgitate. They can contain the bird's undigested parts from its diet. The owl's pellet includes skeletons of various rodents to small cats. The size of the prey depends on the size of the predator. In class today, we received our owl pellets which were covered in tin foil. First, we opened up the foil which contained the pellets. Then we measured and weighed the pellets. After that, my lab partner Mike and I dissected the bones and fur from the pellets. Next, we discovered that our pellet contained a rodent. And finally, we looked into our packets and tried to identify the type of bones we had from the pellet. In class, we learned that a pellet can have more than one skull which meant that there might be more than one rodent in the pellet. Komal's and David's pellet had three skulls and I was amazed that such a small pellet could hold so much!

Fuel made from Sunlight!

Researchers in New Mexico discovered how to use sunlight to recycle carbon dioxide to produce fuels like methanol and gasoline which cars use. The researchers have tried to synthesize liquid fuels and they said the technology works and can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions although the full size scale plan could be a decade or more away. Recycling carbon dioxide is not a new idea but was advised to be too complicated and costly to be worth the effort. Oil prices are rising $100 for each barrel, researchers are very motivated to investigate carbon dioxide recycling so there wont be many concerns about global warming rising higher than it already is. A company named Los Alamos Renewable Energy has developed a way for generating electricity and fuel by creating a method using CO2. The solar reactor that divides carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen is a prototype that will be finished in April. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/S2P

Using Sunlight as Fuel

Scientist researchers in New Mexico discovered a way of using sunlight to recycle carbon dioxide and produce fuels like methanol or gasoline. Researchers said that the discovery works and could help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The idea of recycling carbon dioxide isn't new but was considered too difficult and expensive to do; since gas prices are soaring to 100 dollars per barrel, researchers are motivated to investigate recycling the carbon dioxide. For example, Los Alamos Renewable Energy has developed a working idea of using CO2 to generate elecrticity and fuel.

Volcano that erupts... mud!

The volcano in Orting, Washington is one of our nation's most dangerous volcanos. This volcano has been sitting in many villagers' backyards who have been living peacefully. Volcano Mount Rainier is three miles above sea level. Mount Rainier erupts and causes lahars which are rapid mud flows that destruct manmade objects in its path. Tourists always come to Mount Rainier National Park to admire the actively volcanic volcano, its forested edges, alpine field and the ice glaciers. Even though there is much beauty to this landform, its eruptions are lethal to the valley.(*not all volcanoes explode distinctively with lava.)

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3062/

Your Mental and Physical exercise is more than Important to your health!

Without mental and physical exercise, you could lose your brain cells/memory and get harmful diseses such as Huntington's disease. Huntington's disease can cause death. To fight this disease, you should do either of these daily: read, meditate, write, draw, talk, run/jog, or walk. By doing these exercises, you could improve and get a better memory. Mice that have been tested on in Austrailia performed better on memory tests while provided with a enriched environment that enhanced their mental and physical stimulation.
http://http//www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080124092540.htm

Math is...

Math, math, math! (Boring!!!!)
No one can do math without numbers and counting. Operations such as adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing help solve equqtions. Equations are a part of math that help people solve real- life problems.For example, time and my agenda are useful because they help me keep track of what and how long I'm going to do something. In order to use them, I have to be able to tell time and count days. Math is significant to eating and drinking in order to measure amounts, volume, servings and fractions or pieces of things. Money relates to math because I need to figure out sales tax, prices and discounts. Math is connected to sports to keep track of my hockey scores, swimming times, golfing strokes, baseball innings and outs and also horseback riding for how many stradles to jump. Math is important to art for measuring supplies, using tools suuch as rulers, drawing angles, shapes and lines. (THAT IS GEOMETRY! WOW!...) : Math is used to measure mileage to see how far something is. No one can live without math, and I can't live without my cellphone because I need to keep people's phone "numbers" and text them! P.S. - I hate math!!!!

The Water Cycle

Evaporation and Condensation are two big parts of the water cycle. Evaporation is when water turns into vapor as it rises clouds form and condensation is when vapor turns into water. Stratus clouds are staight and look like horse tails, they also have moisture in them. Cirrus clouds are wispy and have a little bit more water in them. Cumulus clouds are round and fluffy and contain the most water. As the wind moves , ocean water evaporates and forms a small cloud such as a cirrus or stratus which evaporate water from liquid to gas. After the clouds become heavy with water vapor and form cumulus clouds, they condense the vapor into water. Clouds move and bring rain to land and lakes, streams, reservoirs and ....puddles.... From there the water flows down to the ocean. This process of the Water Cycle is necessary because it purifies the water we need.